If there was one lesson Mendham took away from its 26-28, 25-18, 18-25 loss to Roxbury on Oct. 15, it was that team defense needed some work.

The offense has taken care of itself, so the team concentrated heavily on defense over the past few weeks. It all paid off on Saturday.

Michelle Kifyak and Lauren Davies recorded 14 digs apiece to lead the defensive effort and help third-seeded Mendham (22-5) capture its first Morris County Tournament crown since 2013 with a 25-23, 25-16 win over fifth-seeded Kinnelon (18-5) in Randolph.

“Michelle Kifyak and Julia Trzesniowski carried the defense tonight,” said Lauren Wilcock. “Everyone has really come together and focused on an individual thing they need to work on and that has brought the whole team up.”

Trzesniowki had a kill and four digs in the win. Lauren Castignetti made her presence felt at the net with a block and three kills.

“Lauren Castignetti has just been great the last couple of weeks with her blocking,” said Mendham coach Eric Heditsch. “We had to use her as a server today as well. Her blocking and getting her hands on almost every hit is great.”

Castignetti had just five blocks in her first 17 games of the season and now has 12 in her last 10.

If making the final wasn’t enough motivation for this team, it had even more after coming close last season and losing to its biggest rival in West Morris in the semifinals.

“The loss was hard last year but we took it as motivation,” Casitgnetti said. “We all played our hearts out and I think it drove us forward. We’re a really determined team this year so I’m really proud of that.”

Mendham jumped out to a few big leads but Kinnelon wouldn’t go quietly and nearly pulled off the comeback before losing 25-23. The close call was just the tonic Mendham needed.

“It was good that we settled down,” said Wilcock, who also had 17 kills in the win. “We couldn’t settle down too much, we had to keep pushing but the nerves seemed to calm.”

Things were similar in the second set until Nora Mulligan took the service line and helped her team gain separation en route to the 25-16 win. She recorded nine service points and three aces in the game overall.

“She’s always been one of our best servers for two years now,” Heditsch said. “She gets an incredible number of service points. We just seem to score a lot when she’s back there and that’s when we were able to pull away in set two.”

The win gives Mendham eight in its last nine, and plenty of momentum with it, as it enters the state tournament on Monday.

“I think we really had to pour it on over the past couple of weeks,” Heditsch said. "We’ve improved a lot over that time. We’re hitting our peak right at the right time.”

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